60Patrol

I have good news, and bad news:

The good news is that the coolant that was contaminating my motor oil when I bought my 62 does not appear to be from an internal engine leak- I changed the oil and filter, and threw in a can of Risoline crankcase flush and ran the truck for about 2 hours the other night, and the oil has stayed clean and clear. The grey smoke from the exhaust pipe is also GREATLY reduced- I could actually drive it now without fogging up everyone else on the road.

The bad news is that last night I popped teh thermostat housing off and found that my patrol has no thermostat, and yet there is zero water circulation in the radiator, so tonight after work I'll pull the water pump and take a look. The pulley spins (oviously, since the engine runs) and the bearing is quiet, but if there is an impellor in there, it is not moving very much water.

I have the P engine service manual, and it shows how to break down and reassemble the water pump. Has anyone done this? is it as easy as it looks on paper?

I don't suppose anyone has a good or rebuilt water pump for sale...?

That would be very odd. Typically a Patrol water pump let you know when it's bad, by leaking or screaming. I have never seen an impeller disintegrate before, but I guess it could happen.

How does the radiator core look? Maybe there is calcium buildup clogging it and keeping water from circulating?

Dodged another bullet- removed the water pump this afternoon and it was fine-the impellor and the slot that it fits into was just jammed up with a bunch of goo, so I cleaned it all off, and totally flushed out the engine water passages and radiator with clean water (and a lot more sediment came out)

Looked like someone (or everyone) who owned it before me was using straight hard calcium Arizona tap water in the cooing system. I imagine the heater core will also be shot when I go to flush it out before winter.

Buttoned it all back up and filed it with distilled water, and now the water flows freely through the system. It goes without saying that in Az, the cooling system can't be marginal- especially in July.

Took my kids on their first short ride down the block and back - they loved it.

If the weather is not an inferno this weekend, I might crack open these brake drums and see what all is going on in there...

That's awesome!

Another place where gunk builds up in the engine is behind the petcock that's on the block above the starter. Chances are you could remove this and nothing would come out. Then you need to get at it with a coat hanger or something similar to dig out the gunk. I usually blow some hi pressure water through there one I get it cleaned out just to break up some of the other junk. Then you get to hope that the freeze plugs aren't rotted from the inside...